Kill Your Idol

Edition: 1/6 – blue

In the blue glass relief Kill Your Idol, Pasta Oner combines a portrait of Christ with the visual language of pop culture. The work develops a motif that has appeared in various forms throughout his practice, originally inspired by a T-shirt worn by Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns N’ Roses. Through rock culture, the religious image returns to the realm of art, raising questions about how icons are created and the power we attribute to them.

Translated into glass, the familiar face gains volume, depth and a shifting quality. Light passing through the blue material alters the legibility of the portrait and emphasizes its intense, contemplative expression. The provocative title introduces a tension between reverence and doubt. It can be understood as an invitation to reconsider our own idols, beliefs and authorities—the figures and ideas we choose to accept as our own.